


Sharing Feelings

by orphan_account



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: M/M, baths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 12:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6610222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since his sacrifice Kell can feel whatever Rhy feels, including his rekindled attraction for Alucard Emery. It's not pleasant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sharing Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so for those wondering what's up with Alucard at first, he's considered that Kell is avoiding because technically when Alucard kissed Rhy, he sort of kissed Kell without consent, and that's kind of sexual assault. 
> 
> Any I hope it's good, this fandom needs more fanfic

The first time it happened, Rhy and Alucard where in the palace garden and Kell was in his room. Alucard had docked for reasons Kell didn’t want to know, and Kell had been doing his best to avoid him.

The feeling was strange at first, just an insistent, bruising pressure on his lips, and then a delicate pain at the back of his neck like someone had accidentally pulled his hair.

Kell figured out what was happening immediately. He sprinted to the gardens, heart thudding, heat thrumming in his veins. It was the anger, surely. The hot bite of rage.

Kell stormed out, the flowers cloying, the sunlight too harsh, and then he found them, Alucard with mouth pressed against Rhy’s, hands at the base of Rhy’s scalp.

“Stop,” Kell hissed. Rhy must have felt his anger, or either heard it in his voice because he drew away abruptly. If Kell focused he could feel Rhy’s heartbeat, beating as hard and fast as Kell’s, with the same heat threading through him. Alucard merely smiled.

“I’m impressed, this watch dog routine of yours is improving. How could you have known…” And then Alucard paused. He looked at Rhy, and then back at Kell, his expression indecipherable. “You can _feel_ it?” he asked, somewhere between unbelieving and horrified. Kell almost wanted to snarl at him. He took a step forward, his pulse still rushing, sweat pooling on his palms. His eyes were darkening, from anger, it had to be from anger. But then he could feel what Rhy was feeling. Conflict. The desire to reach out and brace his palm on Alucard’s chest.

Kell wasn’t the boss of Rhy, didn’t usually interfere with Rhy’s love life, but this was Alucard.

“Get out,” Kell said. He could feel his nostrils flare, his hands clenched into fists. Alucard’s eyes widened. Something seemed to click underneath the surface of Alucard’s mask, but Kell didn’t care what it was.

“If I had know that you would feel…I wouldn’t have…”

Kell snorted, but Alucard’s expression grew serious for once. “I would have never forced you to feel something like this without your…consent. You can’t possibly think so lowly of me that—”

“Out.”

“We’re already outside,” Alucard said, but he left anyway, hands shoved into pockets, steps jaunty and loud, grating on Kell’s nerves.

Kell watched him go, his eyes tracing the lines of his shoulders, the way he moved. There was power there, masked by something else and Kell could feel Rhy’s longing, could feel the pull to reach out and stop Emery in his tracks.

“I’m sorry,” Rhy said, running his hand through his hair. “It’s been so…”

“I know,” Kell said. He hoped this would be the last time he’d have to deal with this. It wasn’t that he was overly concerned with Alucard kissing Rhy, but this pang to go after him, the fact that Kell could _feel_ them kissing. It was too much.

But of course, he would forever be paying the price for what he had done.

 

 

 

 

The second time it happened, Kell and Alucard were simply waiting for Lila. Alucard was talking, saying something insulting most likely, but Kell wasn’t listening. They were in a receiving room at the palace, Rhy watching them as he stood by the window. Kell had advised him to keep his physical distance from Emery. After a taste of what Rhy was feeling, he’d thought that distance might solve the issue rather neatly.

But it didn’t. Because Rhy could still _see_ Emery, even if he was supposed to be looking out the window, watching for Lila.

Alucard’s mouth kept moving and Kell watched it. At first, he had told himself it was so he could feign attention, but now it was like he couldn’t look away. Rhy’s emotions must have been unduly strong, or perhaps Kell was just lonely and amplifying what Rhy felt, because Kell was sick with longing that wasn’t even his.

Rhy had the desire to brush his fingers over Alucard’s lips and because Rhy desired it, Kell desired it too, in some horrific, visceral way. His real, if faint, desire to wrap his hands around Alucard’s throat mingled with Rhy’s desire to stroke Alucard’s neck.

It was unbearable, that Kell needed to have his hands on Alucard, that he wanted to feel any part of him.

When Lila did arrive, Kell ignored Alucard as steadfastly as he could, wouldn’t look at him, despite how obvious he was.

“I wouldn’t try to hold on too tightly to Lila,” Alucard said, when they left the room. Then he paused, his voice changing. “You don’t have too…” there was so concern there, but Kell didn’t understand it. Luckily Rhy wasn’t here, but even so Rhy was still thinking about Alucard, most likely, because Kell felt the pull. Kell tried to bury it, to push past Alucard without touching him, without fulfilling whatever urge Rhy had.

And when Alucard reached for his arm, to talk to him about whatever nonsense he was sprouting, Kell recoiled instantly. He jerked back, slamming into the wall and Alucard looked horrified for a second, but Kell didn’t understand.

He left.

He would deal with this later.

 

 

 

 

Rhy’s carving for touch only intensified. It was like nothing Kell had ever really felt before. Sure, there had been times when he’d welcome affection, when he was small and had wanted a hug or pat on the head, but this was too much. This instinctual almost unconscious, and it was pressing at him, eating away.

“I’m sorry about lately,” Rhy said, fiddling with something on Kell’s nightstand. “I know you hate Alucard and it must be…” Rhy winced. “awkward to feel whatever I feel for him.” He set whatever he was fiddling with down and turned to Kell who was lounging on his favourite chair. “It’s just I’ve gone so long without someone, and that’s part of the problem isn’t it? Since this thing, I haven’t come close to taking anyone to bed, even when I try to be gentle it…” Rhy sighed. “I guess I could do it when you were asleep, but that might be…”

Kell said nothing.

“I don’t know how you manage, but I suppose, for you, it’s not too different form before.”

Kell continued to say nothing. Instead he focused on the soul bond between them. It was hard to shut out the emotions entirely, but Kell figured if he could learn to feel more of what Rhy was feeling, he could also learn how to feel less. He could manipulate the distance between them.

Earlier, they’d gone over how much something had to hurt for the other to feel it. Kell had found that, if they were most anticipating it a simple scratch could be used to communicate, without Rhy needing to cut himself open again.

For feelings, it was something different. More confusing. No matter how Kell tried to suss it out, it didn’t bend easily. Where their physiological responses were separate and easier to pull apart, their emotions kept intermingling, amplifying and cancelling out until it was too mixed to pull completely apart. Kell closed his eyes and brought his hands together. Rhy was feeling anxious mostly. There was a kind of older dread underneath too, but Kell couldn’t figure out what had caused it. Beneath that was satisfaction at their limited progress earlier and buried even further was Rhy’s need to reach out for skin against skin.

“It would be easier if he wasn’t so careful. It’s the same easy words with him, so close, but so carefully not to touch me, like he thinks you’ll appear in an instant to drag him away…

“You know, I suppose if we were to both bed someone at once, or two different people, you know, then that would be fine…” Rhy sighed and sat across from him, but Kell’s mind was elsewhere entirely.

“I can’t be celibate forever,” Rhy muttered. “I’m not _you_.”

Kell bit his lip until it hurt and watched the pain blossom on Rhy’s face. He could feel Rhy’s frustration at the action, but beyond that amusement. And yet, had he not known the cause, he wasn’t sure he could place it from Rhy’s feelings alone.

He’d have to train a little harder then.

 

 

 

 

The third time it happened Alucard was across the hall and Kell found himself staring, eyes trailing over his back, down to his ass as Alucard watched away. There was flush of heat before Kell realized what was happening and turned away abruptly. Rhy, who was standing beside him and still looking after Emery didn’t seem to notice.

 

 

 

 

The fourth time was disastrous, though it would never be quite as bad as the fifth. Kell was meeting Lila at some pub where she and the rest of the _Night Spire_ were hauled up for a little while. Kell was staring at his mostly empty mug, alternating between making the liquid as smooth as glass and stirring it without touching.

Rhy wasn’t even here and he could still feel the yearning, this forlorn lovesickness without a cause, which was probably directed at more than just Emery, not that Kell would know.

Talking to Lila would help. It would clear his head to focus on someone, on how much he missed her. At the very least he’d probably end up too worried about what crazy stunt she would pull next to really think about Rhy’s feelings.

It was more than just Rhy though, it was Kell’s reaction to Rhy, the guilt, the wanting to make it better, but that’s what Kell had to filter out. There were the dreams too, ones were Emery was a vampire, somehow just as terrible, but strangely alluring, trying to steal Rhy’s heart. There were the dreams where Kell was chasing after him, trying to fight both Emery and some shadow version of himself and also a bear.

Worse were the times when Rhy and Kell were apart and Rhy saw Emery. Kell could always feel the flutter, and knowing who caused it (thinking about who caused it because it could be anyone that caught Rhy’s fancy, not just Emery) made Kell think of him, and it brought Kell’s own remembered desire that had never really been his, just as much as it brought his real ire.

It wasn’t that Kell had never noticed Alucard was conventionally attractive, or that he had a certain charm, but that charm had always rubbed Kell the wrong way and it still did _now_. Kell still wanted to tune him out, wanted to keep him fiercely away from his brother expect, maybe not as fiercely as before but then again, this time if Alucard broke Rhy’s heart, would he also be breaking Kell’s?

Kell shuddered. It didn’t bear thinking about.

Spending an hour or so trailing after Lila, or arguing with Lila, or maybe fighting alongside Lila would clear his head.

If she weren’t so damnably late.

Kell sighed, finished his drink and headed up to her room. It wasn’t quite the evening yet, and certainly not dark enough for Lila to be out trying to pick pockets. Did she still do that? The way she talked about herself, as the best thief, as the _Night Spire’s_ thief, she must still be stealing _something._

Maybe she was just holed up in her room.

Kell climbed the stairs, weaving his way until he was right outside her door, but he paused. Emery was there, not outside Lila’s door, but emerging form another room, possibly his own.

Kell’s heart stopped for a second, and it had to be fear turning his gut and quickening his pulse, not attraction, but terror. Rhy wasn’t even _here_.

“Have you seen Lila?” Kell forced his tone cordial. Emery opened his mouth, but paused. He shrugged instead, grinning and Kell wanted to wipe that smile off his face with either his fist or his mouth. No. The fist. Definitely the fist.

Kell swallowed anyway. He was poised to knock on the door, but Alucard was a step behind him.

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said. Kell froze. He could feel Alucard’s breathing, hot and light on his neck.

“And why not,” Kell refused to look at him. If he didn’t meet his eye, then he wouldn’t be reminded of all this.

“That’s not only Lila’s room and some of her…roommates might not take so lightly to being disturbed.” His voice was thick with mirth, and innuendo. Or maybe Kell was just projecting.

Kell exhaled slowly and backed up, and Emery did too. Or Kell assumed he did, but looked fixated at the wall ahead.

Emery left and Kell waited. He waited and he waited and he went back downstairs to drink, but Lila didn’t show up.

She would though, and when she did Kell’s mind would stop turning in circles. He’d stop obsessing over how to get Rhy’s attraction to Emery disappear, because the worst thing was, as much as he tried to say there were discrete times, there weren’t.

The longing was almost constant, whenever Kell pulled on the bond between them, trying to see how Rhy was doing, there it was. Whenever Kell was alone, trying to read, or even sometimes when he was running errands for the king and queen, he’d sense it. The swooping stomach and breathing too fast and the _wanting_ was present even when Emery himself wasn’t there. But Kell knew what was causing it, and even time his stomach bottomed out or Rhy’s heart skipped a heat, Kell thought of Emery. And then, it was like training a dog, he’d gotten so used to associating these feelings with Emery, that thinking about him could bring the feelings back. It didn’t stop the other feelings, didn’t stop the anger, or the dull knowledge that Emery would just turn on them again.

Kell scowled. He needed to think of something else.

Eventually Kell headed back upstairs, determined to knock on the door no matter what the other occupants were up to, but Emery was there, talking in hushed tones to someone who was leaving.

Kell ignored him and pounded on the door.

“They’re out.”

Kell flinched without intending too. If he’d been looking at Emery he’d probably have seen him approach, clear as day. Kell pounded on the door again, but no one answered.

“I said they crew is out—”

“Lila is over several hours late if she’s caught up doing something dangerous for _you_ ,” Kell turned, fixing his gaze on the opposing door. He crossed his arms. He could always use magic to find her, but surely if there was an emergency he would have heard something.

“What kind of man do you think I am? I wouldn’t send Lila out to something that bad. And I’m not going to do anything to you! I haven’t so much as brushed hands with Rhy—”

“What.” Kell finally looked at him. His head wasn’t clear. He’d probably drank a little to much, but he was worried about Lila, and he trusted that to stop him from thinking about anything else. “I know you haven’t touched Rhy.” Kell said, not understanding what sounded almost like hurt from Alucard.

“It was an _accident_ ,” Alucard continued, but Kell still wasn’t following the conversation. Alucard’s hair was back, and his clothes weren’t the usual offensively privateer captain style he usually wore. Sweat was collecting in the hollow of his throat and Kell licked his lips not altogether discretely.

Kell could have told Emery he was just looking for Lila, but he didn’t owe him an explanation. He didn’t owe him anything.

“You—how _drunk_ are you, right now,” Alucard paused, taking a step back. Did he think Kell was going to fight him?

“Not that drunk. But Lila should be back now—”

“Ah, head clouded with love then,” Alucard muttered. Kell had to look at his mouth to catch the words and then he couldn’t stop looking.

When he did, Alucard had kept talking, but Kell had merely looked down the slop of his neck, and the arch of his shoulders. They were nice, well formed shoulders, the kind Kell had appreciated and envied when he was younger, the kind that came form back breaking work, but not too much, like he was used to delegating.

Rhy’s stomach somersaulted somewhere, and it could have been for some completely unrelated reason, but Kell found himself drawing closer to Rhy’s emotions, trying to find the cause.

He wasn’t queasy, it wasn’t food poisoning, but there were no butterflies in his stomach, no cloud of lust from some other activity—

“Are you even listening to me?”

“No.” Kell frowned. Maybe he should have waited to take such a hard stance until he found out what Alucard was saying.

“I said, Lila could have figured you’d go home, she could be at the palace.”

That was actually a fairly good point. Maybe Kell was drunk. Kell looked Alucard up and down, as if trying to find out how or why he was somehow being helpful.

He was still frowning, as Rhy said he was almost perpetually frowning.

Kell nodded and turned to leave, hearing Alucard’s footsteps clunk on the wood as he did the same. Kell turned back, watching him go, mapping out the planes of his retreating figure.

And then Alucard turned back, meeting his eye.

Fuck.

It was one thing to be having these thoughts about Emery but it was another thing entirely to think that he could be aware of them, and there were only so many reasons you could have for looking at another person’s ass.

Kell left immediately heading back to the palace. He checked Rhy’s room first but his brother was apparently having a bath, so Kell went back to his own room falling onto his own bed, but not quite falling asleep. He had to figure out how to end this.

 

 

 

 

Drinking anywhere near Alucard was clearly out of the question. In fact, it might be best to tone down drinking in general until he got a hold on this. Maybe, the problem was also that Kell needed something to do. He was still antsy, and there were no tournaments for him to find release in.

It was past the time he normally slept, but Kell just kept thinking.

The best and easiest way would be to help Rhy get over Alucard, but he’d being trying that for years and it hadn’t worked. And then, if he did succeed, this would just happen again when Rhy fell for someone else.

But there had to be something more. Surely Rhy had found other people attractive and Kell hadn’t noticed. He wasn’t constantly in Rhy’s head.

Maybe the problem was Rhy’s loneliness mirroring his own, only different somehow, the two coming together to form something monstrous. Maybe he should seek new friends, or at least see how Hastra was doing.

Kell sat up and changed into his nightshirt, perched on the edge of his chair. If Kell was the problem, then that could be changed, couldn’t it? Kell just had to throw himself into something else.

Or as Rhy suggested, _someone else,_ but it wasn’t as if he had a lot of options or some grand desire for the kind of bedplay Rhy enjoyed.

Kell sighed, and half climbed into bed when he felt it.

The swoon. His knees were weak, his head dizzy but not unpleasantly. Rhy was in the bath, and it wasn’t unthinkable that he would be masturbating, thinking Kell asleep, but _swooning_?

No.

Kell jumped to the floor.

He was in the bath in an instant, no attendant to greet him. No doubt Rhy or fucking _Emery_ had sent him away. Kell marched past the the little antechamber, ignoring the grand open space that was the palace bath. Carved and intricately decorated it might as well have been a cave fright now.

And sure enough, there they were Rhy and Alucard, in the bath, lights dimmed, steaming rising up and filling the rose scented air.

Kell’s bare feet slapped soundless on the marble and it wasn’t until he jumped in and pushed Emery away that they noticed him.

“I though you said he was asleep,” Alucared hissed. Then: “I didn’t even touch him, I was a hair’s breath away but it—”

“ _Seriously,”_ Kell turned on his brother, ignoring Alucard completely. His white nightshirt was almost translucent in the water and Alucard was dressed, not fully, but certainly more than Kell. Rhy however was completely undressed.

“Look, this was obviously stressing you out, because of my—” Rhy was clearly searching for a word that meant _sexual frustration_ but was less awkward. Finding nothing he ran his fingers through his hair instead. “Look, I thought if I could see Alucard at night, I would be fine during the day and you wouldn’t, you know, feel uncomfortable.”

“I assure you—” Alucard started but Kell shushed him loudly.

“Rhy, look, I know this is hard for you, I _know_ , but he’d just going to break your heart, he’s a snake and a terrible person,” Kell said. Rhy sighed, and looked up at the ceiling.

“Look I don’t mean for your heart—”

“It’s not about me Rhy. I always kept him away from you, before this, for the same reason.” Kell turned to glare at Alucard, but his sweat or maybe water was forming droplets on his skin. They traveled down his face, over his throat and past his clavicle. Alucard’s shirt was open too, strings unlaced, exposing his chest and further dripping beads of –Rhy’s breath hitched, and so did Kell’s but he looked away.

“I’m not quite sure I understand,” Alucard said, still lounging in the water. Kell was the only one standing the water came up mid chest. Carefully Kell kneeled on the raised underwater platform Rhy and Alucard were sitting on.

“This could easily be solved by Alucard _leaving_ , but in the future, if you wish to…partake in one of your,” Kell made a vague hand gesture. “I would go to sleep. Just tell me about it first and make sure it’s not _Alucard Emery_.” Kell turned back to Alucard and glared, but he didn’t move.

His hair was damp too, his eyes blown wide either by the poor lighting or Rhy or something else.

“I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure I understand this conversation. What exactly is it you’re feeling during the day that—” Kell looked at his mouth, the same one he’d been staring at earlier, but it was redder now, like he’d been chewing on his lips or kissing.

“Look, it’s just that, I get lonely you know, and it’s not like I just take anyone to bed now, and it’s driving me crazy as well as Kell,” Rhy was saying. Something heavy inside Kell stirred and he wasn’t sure if it was from his own thoughts or Rhy’s.

“So I was to be just a physical release to—”

“It’s more than you deserve,” Kell said. “But you won’t be touching my brother either way.” This was perhaps a bit extreme, because Rhy could look after himself and he’d never gone to so far as to say something like this. But the hot water was making him feel lightheaded.

Rhy could make decisions for himself, just like Kell could. He wasn’t some seventeen year old who needed someone to stop him from doing something this stupid, and yet Rhy wanted Alucard, needed him more than he should and Kell hadn’t appreciated the restraint on Rhy’s part before.

Now, he appreciated it. Now, staring at a soaked Alucard Emery, Kell appreciated it. Alucard probably tasted like salt, both from sweat and from the sea and Kell licked his lips for a moment.

What had he been thinking about before exactly?

“So anyone would do?” Alucard asked. For a moment Kell pictured Rhy and someone else, when he had interrupted Rhy before, the interactions had been mostly painful, but surely he would feel pleasure to?

His brother’s pleasure? Wouldn’t that be…Kell almost gagged.

No, if Rhy was bedding someone he didn’t much care about, there wouldn’t be any strong emotions for Kell to sink into. It would just be the uncomfortable physical sensation of what someone was doing to his brother.

In some ways, it _had_ to be Alucard.

“Look,” Kell moved to run his fingers through his hair but stopped. Rhy must have drawn the same conclusion because he was avoiding looking at Kell directly.

“I still think this could be solved if we just each had our own bed partners,” Rhy said, fixing his hair. Kell supposed it would be solved, but there weren’t people lining up to sleep with him. And some of the ones who would were only in it for the novelty, or because of some kind of sick, pleasurable fear, or because they thought he was divine or important in a way that was utterly inhuman. Besides, while Kell enjoyed physical connect, he wasn’t lacking for it. He didn’t yearn for it like Rhy did.

Besides, it wasn’t like you couldn’t have a romantic encounter without sex. There were plenty of things you could do like cuddling, dinners—Kell shot a glance at Alucard. If he forbid Alucard from touching Rhy, that didn’t mean he’d prevent them from being together, would it? It would only make Alucard try harder, and Rhy fall harder and _break_ harder.

“Look, the physical aspect is less important, what matters is that you do not try to _romance_ Rhy,” Kell tried again.

“So now you’ll allow me to bed him? How magnanimous of you,” Alucard smirked. And Kell hated the smirk. Hated it. Loathed it, despised it, would do anything to wipe it off Alucard’s face and so he kissed him.

Quick, and brutal, fingers gripped Alucard’s jaw.

Rhy gasped and Kell pulled away. Rhy brought his fingers to his lips and Alucard was staring at him, staring at Rhy as if he was just now grasping what was happening.

He laughed for a moment, the sound echoing in the chamber.

“That’s your idea?” Alucard muttered, but he was smiling again, wider than before. Kell didn’t have any time to do anything about that, because Alucard was kissing him in an instant, hard but not brutal, insistence and firm but slow and Kell had been right, he did taste like salt.

He smelt like the sweet bath oils in the water, not like the pub, not like his ship and for a moment Kell forgot what was happening. His heart was hammering in his chest and he wanted this, for some reason. This was supposed to be fixing something, but there was an undeniable satisfaction, an undeniable thrill in burying his fingers in Alucard hair and digging in nails into the base of his scalp.

They met and broke, but Alucard was still smiling, eyes turning to Rhy whenever they could, but Kell didn’t look at his brother. It was almost better to pretend he wasn’t here, better to pretend he wasn’t doing this or that somehow—

“Sorry to interrupt,”

Lila. It was Lila.

Kell turned around and Alucard stopped. She was standing on the edge of the bath, tucking her knife into her coat. She almost looked like a shadow in the scant light.

“Sorry, I’m late for our get together, but I didn’t expect you to be _here_ ,” Lila said.

“Ah Lila, so…” Rhy started, but he was still flushed and fumbling for words.

“And Alucard, I should have known when you tried to seduce me that you had rather—”

“What!” Kell turned around on Alucard. All this time and he’d already been seeing someone. Kell moved to strike.

“It was one time! Months ago! And this is not…well…I’m not sure what this is…” Alucard looked Kell up and down and only now did Kell realize his soaking wet nightshirt was basically completely see through. Only the swirling pink foam was giving him any real semblance of modesty.

“Look, Lila, if I had known about you and Alucard—”

“No there’s nothing—”

“And why were you so late anyway?” Alucard asked. “If you’d been on time, this little black eyed prince would have gone out and come back and he’d be asleep by now.”

Lila opened her mouth, and then made some sort of hand gesture. “I was held up,” she said, which clearly meant she had been doing something probably illegal and no doubt secret.

“Anyway, I suppose I’ll leave you to…whatever…now that you know I’m all right…”

“How did you get in here?” Kell asked, but Lila was already going back to antechamber. Was there some kind of window in there? Had Rhy dismissed all his guard? That seemed unlikely.

“You should go after her,” Alucard’s eyes flicked to Kell and then to where Lila had been.

“I’m not leaving you two alone,”

“For god’s sake Kell,” Rhy sighed and heaved himself out of the bath. “I’ll go back to my room then, unaccompanied. You can escort Alucard out and then go find Lila.”

That seemed reasonable enough.

Except where Rhy had a robe a spare change of clothes, Kell had only come in his shirt. Sighing, he moved to cut his hand on the edge of one of the tub fixtures as Alucard grabbed his things.

Could Kell take Alucard with him? He’d taken Lila across Londons so it figured…and yet…Alucard sighed and tossed him his full cloak, hanging back as Rhy strobe out of the bath.

“We probably have five minutes between when Rhy leaves and when the attendants come in to empty the baths.”

Kell nodded and wrapped Alucard’s cloak around himself.

 

 

 

 

The palace was on lock down and somehow Alucard and Kell had been forced into Kell’s room by the guard.

Someone had broken into the palace and Kell and his “mystery guest” who the guards had thankfully not been able to identify were to stay put. There was a guard posted on Kell’s balcony and two on the outside of the door.

It had been immediately apparent that Kell was not appropriate dressed and that he and Alucard were both soaking wet and guards drew their own, not entirely inaccurate conclusions.

“This is only temporarily,” one of the guards said. “Please Master Kell, do not leave.” Kell wasn’t about to leave Alucard in his room alone so he supposed he had no choice. He tossed Alucard’s cloak aside and fished for his other nightshirt, this one markedly shorter than the last, but _dry_.

Then Kell collapsed in his favourite chair.

“You can take the bed, Lila’s not going to get caught, we’ll be here a while.” Alucard hummed and lay down on the bed, consumed by pillows and silk sheets and Kell merely rubbed at his pinkening thigh. The water must have been hotter than he’d thought.

“Are you really going to be some kind of proxy for your brother’s feelings?” Alucard asked. His feet were thumping up and down lightly as he wiggled around, trying to get comfortable. Kell half wished he’d taken the bed, just to make Alucard sleep someone else, but Kell liked his chair and the fur and silk blanket beside it warm without being to slippery.

“If he just needs to feel physical close to someone, then that’s fine,” Kell muttered, though he knew that probably a strange thing to agree to. He could blame it on the blame being too hot or he could blame it on being too tired but he knew the real cause.

“You can sleep on the bed, it’s large enough for both of us to sleep without touching,” Alucard said. “And I wouldn’t want your brother to wake up with a stiff back.”

Kell glared, then curled up in his chair and closed his eyes.

Carefully he scratched a message in his arm to Rhy, but Rhy was in his room too, bored.

 _You don’t have to do this_ Rhy wrote, the guilt evident even if Kell wasn’t looking for it.

Rhy had gone to such trouble with the tournament when Kell had needed release. It some ways, Kell was only returning the favour. Sighing Kell climbed into his bed, pushing Alucard to the side. There had to be some way to make Rhy stop feeling like everything Kell did was Rhy’s fault. Kell had made the decision to save Rhy, he had made the decision to kiss Alucard because he couldn’t take it either.

Rhy had had more restraint that Kell had given him credit for.

Kell had originally intended to sleep. But he could still feel the heat from Alucard. Kell could hear him shift and his hands were still itching to do something, to touch him. Somehow or another he found himself underneath Alucard, kissing him softly, too softly for Rhy to feel. When he tried to say as much, Alucard only smirked.

“But surely, Rhy can still feel how nice it is? How much fun you’re having?” Alucard snickered. The words were at odd with how gentle he was, his hands light on Kell’s skin, his breath hot on Kell’s neck but Alucard’s lips only grazed. Maybe Kell was already asleep.

Kell hadn’t really done anything like this before, least of all with another man, but he tried not to think about. Everything was so slow, hands carding through Kell’s hair, hands caressing his face, the backs of his thighs, Alucard’s thumbs pressed at the corner of Kell’s hip bone.

Was this really happening? What was this, the sixth time Kell had give in to someone else’s desire?

It wouldn’t do good to be keeping score and focusing too much on things. If he was serious about this…Alucard’s mouth was on his again, and Kell’s lip were oversensitive somehow, and he could barely think. He let himself relax, making small breathy noises letting himself drift off.

It wasn’t so bad.

If Kell was honest it was actually really nice and when he was finished, still slick, his thighs particularly oily, he rolled over on his side and shrugged, not really looking at Alucard.

“I guess that’ll do.” Kell said, smiling when he felt Alucard stiffen and flop down beside him, huffing. “It was…passable.”

Kell yawned and fell asleep.

The ache in his chest was gone, and Alucard was still pissed off, so all and all, he supposed he could live with this.


End file.
